Trucks are often utilized to transport particulate material, such as livestock feed and agricultural seed. Conventional truck boxes for hauling particulate material include an auger assembly positioned axially beneath the floor of the box, with an opening in the floor providing access to the auger assembly. However, the flat floor of the truck box does not allow all of the particulate material to flow by gravity into the auger assembly, thus requiring manual shoveling or sweeping of the material adjacent the side walls of the truck box into the auger assembly. Such manual labor increases the time and cost to unload the truck. The manual shoveling and sweeping also subjects the laborer to potential back injuries from stress or strain.
Some truck boxes have overcome the problems associated with the square corner truck box by providing a sloped floor or sloped plates extending between the side wall and the floor, thus eliminating the need to shovel or sweep material from the corners. Such slope plates conventionally are manually carried or slid into position in the truck. Thus, substantial labor is still involved, thereby increasing time and cost factors, and subjecting the worker to back stress and strain. Also, with prior art slope plates, particulate material escapes through openings between the plates, and through openings between the plates and the side walls or floor of the truck box, into the corners of the box, thus again requiring shoveling or sweeping.
Therefore, a primary feature of the present invention is the provision of improved slope plates for use in a particulate material truck box.
Another feature of the present invention is the provision of pivotal slope plates which can be moved between a raised inoperative position adjacent the side walls of the truck box and a lowered operative position extending between the side wall of the box and the auger trough opening in the floor of the box.
Another feature of the present invention is the provision of pivotal slope plates for a truck box which overlap one another to prevent seepage of particulate material into the corners of the box.
A further feature of the present invention is the provision of an improved slope plate assembly for a truck box wherein a series of plate sections are hinged to the side wall of the box for selective and sequential movement between raised and lowered positions.
Another feature of the present invention is the provision of a series of slope plate sections for a truck box which are offset with respect to the stakes in the side wall of the truck box, thereby allowing a dividing wall to be selectively positioned between opposing stakes with minimal lost space.
Another feature of the present invention is the provision of slope plates having smooth upper and lower surfaces to prevent unobstructed loading and unloading for both particulate material and other cargo.
A further feature of the present invention is the provision of a truck box having slope plates and a selectively positioned dividing wall which sealingly engages the slope plates to prevent flow of particulate material beneath the slope plate.
Still another feature of the present invention is the provision of improved truck slope plates which are economical to manufacture and install, and are durable and safe in use.
These and other features will become apparent from the following description of the invention.